T.F.M. Pages

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Christian Hörgren Built Kabuto 7653

When Yasuyuki Kabuto of Kabuto Rods began taking orders for the 7'6" five weight I emailed Christian Hörgren to see if he would considering doing the build since I have long wanted one of his pieces of fly fishing art.

The Kabuto Rods 7653 build is complete and Christian sent a few photographs and a bit of background on the build late last week. I am very excited to add yet another Kabuto Rods blank build to my own personal collection.

Christian wrote... "The dark finish of this blank is by far the most beautiful I have
seen from Kabuto Rods so far. I wanted to accomplish it with sparse, yet
sophisticated appointments to enhance its rich and deep color.

The rod is wrapped with silk in a slightly darker
color than the blank, to make the wraps stand out just a little. I
wanted them to look like dripping honey. The tippings are barely
visible, but make a nice accent at the end of each section and around
the hand writing.

At the moment, I'm having a brown period when it
comes to reels and hardware. This made me chose guides in bronze, and I
finally found a stripping guide in bronze with a very silent look. I
usually prefer Mildrum Carboloy strippers, but I couldn't find any with a
bronzed frame. Pointers regarding this are more than welcome.

The reel seat was a challenge. It's hard to find a
nice skeleton that doesn't have that factory feel to it. And if you
finally find one, they very often tend to look very traditional and
bambooish. I wanted a modern and sparse sliding ring model, in a dark,
brown color. The final seat is made from brass tubing, and was bronzed
with a bluing agent, and sealed with a satin gloss polyurethane
varnish. The recessed butt is made from bamboo veneer, and hidden under a
thick layer of glossy epoxy.

The cork grip was glued and hand turned to my
standard shape. Instead of adding a cork check between the reel seat and
the cork grip, I made a void between them. I like to see the
construction of things, and it gives a visual lightness to the grip that
I'm quite happy with.

The sock was made by me in canvas with details in yellow to accomplish the rod.

I'm
very proud to be a part of the T.F.M. collection and I hope that the rod will
serve well during it's lifetime. Thanks Cameron, for doing such a
fantastic job with The Fiberglass Manifesto."

Christian...thank you is not words enough and I can't wait to hold this fly rod in my hands.

Jeez... I sold the Fenwick I guess because it didn't get fished. I was in my bamboo-only period I guess?

I do remember that the Fenwick was a gentle casting rod and I thought it didn't have the 'oomph' to cast a hopper tightly against a nice bank.

Now I'm more 'free' in my mind. I enjoy graphite as well as bamboo and I would like to add about two superb glass rods. Maybe one Wojnicki and the other one?... I'd like to try out some rods from the Rod Loan program. Maybe one of those nice looking Kabuto's.

Why did you sell your Fenwick?

I'm really curious how this Kabuto casts. It's a 5 weight so surely it has more power than the Fenwick which is a 4 weight.